Alcaraz knocks down Cilic and stands in the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters 1,000

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The young Carlos Alcaraz beat Croatian

in two sets on Thursday and reached the quarterfinals of the

.

Alcaraz, number four in the world ranking, beat veteran Cilic (17th) 7-6 (7/4) and 6-1 in one hour and 40 minutes of play.

The Spaniard, one of the great jewels of world tennis at 19 years old, will fight in the quarterfinals against the British

on his way to his coveted third

title of the season.

Against Cilic, 33 years old and winner in Cincinnati in 2016,

unleashed his inexhaustible repertoire of powerful forehands and exquisite drop shots and emerged victorious from a disconnection that forced him to reach the

to win the first set.

The Spaniard, with a 5-4 lead on serve, enjoyed two balls to seal the set but ended up conceding the break to Cilic committing three consecutive double faults.

did not despair against the experienced Cilic, champion of

in 2014, and quickly put the

on track with a distance of 4-0 to avoid shocks.

In the second set, Cilic, 1.98m tall, was running out of power to dictate the exchanges and

took advantage of it to break his serve on the first occasion.

In the third game, the Croatian burned his last cartridges with two break balls that

knew how to neutralize in an eight-minute game.

Under the watchful eye of his coach, former world number one

, Alcaraz continued to show himself as a strong candidate to win his fifth title in 2022, after those won in

,

and the

in

and

.

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